Senate confirms Vivek Murthy as new surgeon general

“Today the Senate put public health over special interests by voting to confirm Dr. Vivek Murthy,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., moments after the early evening vote. “The United States faces serious public health challenges, and we need a top doctor on the job to help address them.”

President Obama applauded the 51-43 vote, promising that Murthy will “hit the ground running to make sure every American has the information they need to keep themselves and their families safe.”

Despite having the widespread backing of the medical community, the Harvard and Yale graduate’s nomination had been stalled for months amid Republican accusations he was too political and because of his pro-gun control stance.

GOP opposition was focused largely on his co-founding of a political group in 2008 that advocated for the creation of the Affordable Care Act. Republicans said his association with Doctors for America — initially called Doctors for Obama — made him unsuited to be the nation’s leading spokesman for healthcare issues.

“The American people deserve a surgeon general who has proven throughout his or her career that their main focus is a commitment to patients, not a commitment to politics,” said Sen. John Barrasso. R-Wyo., on the Senate floor Monday.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., earlier this year placed a procedural hurdle preventing Murthy’s confirmation to be fast-tracked, saying he had “serious concerns about [Murthy’s] ability to impartially serve as the “nation’s doctor.”

Doctors for America describes itself as “not affiliated with any partisan group or with the administration” and says it doesn’t endorse or support any candidates or groups.

Conservatives also have blasted Murthy for pressing for stricter gun control laws and for calling gun violence a “healthcare issue.”

In a widely circulated Twitter post in 2012, Murthy suggested that Congress for too long has capitulated to the wishes of the influential gun lobby, writing that he was “tired of politicians playing politics w/guns, putting lives at risk b/c they’re scared of NRA.”

The National Rifle Association fought back, saying a Murthy confirmation would pose a “serious threat” to the rights of gun owners.

“Dr. Murthy’s political activism on behalf of a radical gun control agenda compromises his ability to speak to a broad segment of the American public on questions of health and science,” said Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA’s lobby arm, in a letter last week to the Senate’s party leaders.

Murthy has vowed he wouldn’t use the surgeon general’s post as a bully pulpit for gun control.

Sen. Joe Manchin, one of three Democrats to oppose Murthy, said he did so on the grounds of his “political activism.”

“It is essential that the surgeon general gains the public’s trust, so this position must be separated from the political arena,” said the centrist West Virginian. “I don’t question his medical qualifications; I just question whether the public will believe that he can separate his political beliefs from his public health views.”

Democratic Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota also opposed the nomination.

Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois was the lone Republican to support Murthy.

But with only a simple Senate majority needed for Murthy’s confirmation, the outcome wasn’t in much doubt. Presidential nominations don’t require House approval.

“He isn’t in this position of being nominated simply because of his political activity,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., on the Senate floor Monday. “He has an extraordinary backing of individuals in the medical profession.”

And Democrats say that with the fear of an Ebola epidemic still lingering in the United States, it would be reckless not to fill the position of surgeon general, which has been vacant since July 2013.

Murthy’s confirmation process may have been delayed even longer if a deal late last week on a must-pass government funding bill hadn’t collapsed. Senate party leaders on Friday had agreed to fast-track a vote on the so-called omnibus bill, then essentially adjourn for the year. But Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and a handful of other conservatives blocked the move on the grounds the bill didn’t include language to stop President Obama’s recent immigration reforms — setting into motion parliamentary procedures that allowed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. to easily hold votes this week on several stalled presidential nominations.

Murthy, at 37, will be the youngest surgeon general and the first of Indian decent. He was born in England but moved to Miami with his family as a young child. He is an attending physician and instructor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School in Boston, a position he has held since 2006.